Previously on "Did I Make the Most of Loving You."
At a joint session of the Quorum of Ship Captains, the Rebel Cylons petitioned to join the Quorum. This was tabled for later. Wally acted reasonably, what could he be up to?
Kara met with Leoben at Joe's bar. He has an idea about how to garner more support for the Rebel Cylons after the failed Battle of the Hub.
Lee, seeing Kara with Leoben, nearly overreacts but goes to the Adama's quarters and crashes there instead.
...
The offending chirp of a too-early comm broke through the haze of sleep. With an exasperated sigh, because gods forbid either of them ever get a halfway-decent night's sleep, Bill gently extracted himself from Laura, who groaned in protest at the loss of her favorite, warm pillow. He reached for the comm, glaring at it as it buzzed. Damned technology.
"Adama," he said in a gruff voice, rubbing a hand over his face to wake up. He strained trying to understand the jumbled words tumbling out of the comm. "Kara?" Bill said, frowning at the strangely shrill tone in Kara's voice. Beside him, Laura's eyes opened, appearing bleary but concerned as she sensed the mounting tension.
"What's going on?" she asked, but Bill could only shake his head in confusion.
"You need to slow down..." he said. Her worked-up voice sounded from the comm now loud enough for Laura to hear. His frown deepened and he held out the comm to Laura. "She wants you."
Laura propped herself up on an elbow and took the comm; suspecting what could upset Kara had her praying for her daughter-in-law's wellbeing. Holding up the receiver, Kara's voice exploded in her ear, a chaotic clash of ragged breaths, hiccups, and words.
"Something's wrong," Kara gasped, "I know it... I knew something bad was gonna happen," she hiccuped loudly into the comm, "I can't do this! And... Lee's not home," she heaved a sob that didn't stop the outpouring of barely comprehensible words, "…good he doesn't know… What do I do?! "
"Kara, first, you have to breathe," Laura ordered, flinging the blanket off her and standing. Her own hands shook as she grabbed her robe from the foot of the bed; her heart ached at how terrified the unflappable Viper pilot sounded. "What exactly happened?"
"What's going on?" Lee demanded as he stumbled half-asleep in the sleeping area.
"What the hell?" Bill said.
"I woke up and… my stomach hurts… and…" Kara kept speaking to Laura while gulping down air. "There was some blood in the bed. I'm scared to move. I can't... I... Cottle's gonna tell me they're gone!"
Laura ignored the boys, focusing on Kara. She balanced the comm against her shoulder while jamming her arms into her robe. She kept her voice soothing for her increasingly hysterical daughter-in-law.
"This can happen," Laura said, sounding far calmer than she felt. It was like being a kindergarten teacher again with frightened students during a tornado drill. Kara was borderline hysterical. Lee looked frustrated. And Bill looked ready to spring into action the second she told him what to do. "It doesn't automatically mean there's a problem—"
"What's wrong with my wife?!" Lee asked, stepping farther into the room.
"Why aren't you with her?" Bill asked.
"Shut up, both of you," Laura said, with a hand clamped on the comm. After giving both a look sharp enough to freeze a Cylon, she removed her hand. "We do need to get you to Cottle so he can check you. I'll meet you there."
"Okay," Kara said shakily.
"And don't worry about Lee. He's here with us... helping with Evelyn." Laura's blazing green eyes dared anyone to refute this quick cover story for Kara's peace of mind. Wisely, the Adama men looked both compliant and concerned. "I'm bringing Lee with me…" They heard the beginning of Kara's protest. "You need him right now. We'll see you in Life Station."
She hung up the comm and finished tying her robe.
"Wha—" Lee began, but Laura held up a hand.
Bluntness expedited understanding, so Laura laid it out for him, "Kara's pregnant. Something might be wrong, and we need to get to Life Station."
The men looked at her as if she'd conjured a live nuke out of thin air, dropped it on the floor, and threatened to kick it at them. Not wanting to waste any time, she took Lee by the arm and led him toward the door even as he stumbled over his own feet. Looking over her shoulder to check on Bill, she watched him motioning her onward. He looked as on edge as she felt, but there was an air of understanding.
"Go. I'll call Maya and meet you there," Bill said. Feeling a rush of love and gratitude for her understanding husband, Laura hauled herself and Lee through the hatch. She knew Bill would come running as soon as Maya arrived to watch Evelyn, but he willingly gave Laura and Lee a head start so they could be with Kara for every precious second possible.
In the corridor, the guards eyed Lee curiously as he tripped over his own feet while their President dragged him down the corridor, her robe swishing behind them. Lee didn't notice any side-long glance as his shocked mind was busy trying to process unexpected information. He finally squeaked, "Kara's pregnant? How?"
"Yes, she is. And I distinctly remember the 'how' being explained when you were a teenager."
"But, she wants to keep the baby?" Lee asked. He knew Kara's feelings on children, having had a few heated rows with her on the subject. In this timeline, Laura had never instituted her policy to criminalize abortion, that being of the choices she'd regretted. Kara had a choice.
"Yes. She was working through some things before telling you."
"She told you?!"
Laura rolled her eyes as they rounded a corner, drawing closer to sickbay. "She told the other woman who's been pregnant and married to an Adama, Lee." Laura said, barely concealing her exasperation. Adama men; easy to love but sometimes living with… Laura thought, but then she took pity at the sight of an appropriately contrite face on Lee and let her exasperated thoughts fade. "You know Kara. Her head isn't… it isn't the healthiest place to be sometimes. She needed to work through some of that."
They walked in silence until reaching the doors of Life Station. At the threshold, something clicked in Lee's head.
"She's trying to be happy about it. For me," he realized. Sometimes, it seemed like the past shackled them too heavily: an abusive mother, New Caprica, her first fiance, and the great destiny that called to her. Lee, who held Kara at night against the nightmares and listened every single time she opened up about her past, knew better than most how she fought against her demons. Realizing the mental torment she must have been dealing with turned his stomach. Lee felt about two inches tall when he found himself admitting to Laura why he'd come to her and his father's quarters. He admitted his frustration with Kara's irritability and distance and how seeing her with Leoben caused something in him to snap, so he'd wanted space.
Laura let the realization crash around him before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't always assume the worst and keep breathing. Ok? Now let's go, they need us… you right now."
After stepping into Life Station, a passing nurse gestured to a privacy screen without them even needing to ask. In these early hours, they were the only sources of activity in the mostly quiet bay.
Laura stepped behind the privacy screen with a confidence Lee didn't share. She, having been pregnant twice and faced the complications each brought, had a good idea of what Kara needed. Meanwhile, Lee felt like the much younger version of himself who'd heard his pregnant stepmother fall down the stairs and, after racing to her side, felt nothing but useless as he hoped everything would be ok. His stomach did flips, and a tingle of fear tickled him from the tips of his fingers to his toes as he wondered if everything would be ok. He hated this feeling.
Keep it together Leeland. Laura says Kara needs you, Lee thought as he squared his shoulders and took a breath of air so deep his lungs ached. Ordering his feet to get a move-on, he slipped past the privacy screen into the make-shift room a few seconds behind Laura.
On a medical bed, a wide-eyed Kara Thrace reached for Laura's hand as her mother-in-law took up a place by her bed. Lee saw how the hell-raising top gun of Galactica looked terrified. Her tangled hair stuck out in every direction, and her lips swelled up large and red from how hard she'd been biting and gnawing at the tender flesh.
Oh, Kara , he thought when her intense gaze met his; his heart ached to see his fierce wife like this—forced into a vulnerability she no doubt abhorred. In fact, Kara looked like she wanted to be anywhere else. Meanwhile, Ishay busied herself around the little group, connecting readouts and asking pointed and personal questions.
"Permission to enter?" Lee asked, deeply aware that Kara hadn't explicitly invited him. Kara liked feeling in control, so he gave her some.
"Frakkin' fine! Come on," Kara snapped in a rough voice that betrayed her agitated state. "Maybe you can answer Ishay's questions. When was the last time we had sex?"
Ishay gave them a sympathetic look, "It is relevant. Sometimes—"
"—a week ago," Lee answered bluntly as he swiftly moved past Ishay to Kara. He steadfastly refused to look any of the women in the eye except Kara.
"Just a few more questions, and then Dr. Cottle will be here," Ishay assured them, swooping up a clipboard in her hands and filling out some details. While she worked, Lee took Kara's hand.
"Whatever happens, I'm here, and we will be okay."
"Easy words. So very pretty!" Kara snapped while tears leaked out of her eyes.
"Pretty words for a pretty wife," Lee said, laying the saccharine on extra thick despite the nervous quiver in his voice.
Kara yanked her hand away, hauled off, and punched him hard. "Shut the frak up!"
Lee was pleased that her fighting spirit was still there and so easily provoked. He took it as a good sign. By the subtle way Kara relaxed, he knew that his approach was appreciated. That's right, Lee, keep the cool head and don't add to the panic.
"I mean it, though, Kara. We'll get through this." He squeezed her hand, and Kara, actually feeling comforted, gripped him back hard enough to rearrange the bones in his hand. Unwinding, Lee looked at Ishay. "Any idea what's going on?"
Ishay hesitated as Dr. Cottle usually diagnosed patients, and there were more tests to run. Seeing the barely contained pleading looks on their faces that begged for scraps of information, she responded. Her smooth Libran accent took a reassuring cadence," Dr. Cottle will be able to tell you more after some tests. I can say that the baby's heart sounded good, but the stress is worrying."
"Good thing I'm here then. Now let's check the little rebel," Cottle said, thumping into the private alcove with the grace of a duck yanked from its bed in the middle of the night. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at the presence of Dr. Cottle, who immediately got down to figuring out what might be wrong. Kara stayed mostly quiet through the process, only describing what happened and answering more questions the doctor posed. Laura murmured gentle encouragements but often simply commiserated at what pregnant women endured. Lee remained constant and steady at her side, like a solid rock in the rapids onto which Kara could hold.
Eventually, Cottle pulled the sonogram machine over, and Kara obediently pulled up her shirt and endured the cold gel. Lee thought he saw a swell to Kara's stomach. Had he been blind?
"You think I was sneaking the plethora of sweets we have in the Fleet?" Kara grumbled at her gawking husband.
"I wasn't gonna judge you for overindulging at Evie's tea parties," Lee said. At the smile that made it onto Kara's face, he felt a touch useful. Before they could divulge into a snarky back and forth, the sonogram machine started, and both parents were squinting to find a sign of their baby.
"There's the newest recruit," Cottle said.
"Oh, holy Hera."
"Frak."
"That's gonna be your baby's first word," the doctor warned. He focused on the screen, his face scrunched up in concentration as he moved the sonogram wand around. Everyone waited with bated breath. Cottle refused to be rushed and took his time to be thorough. He even had Ishay look too, until both were satisfied. "Little rabble-rouser of yours looks healthy. We'll double-check your hormone levels and keep you for observation, just to be safe and to make sure you actually get the rest I've been telling you to get," Cottle said, reaching in his pocket to pull out a cigarette and thinking better of it as he spoke with this particular group. He calmly answered their questions, explaining that this did indeed sometimes happen, especially early in the pregnancy.
Cottle lectured her about her stress before leaving, muttering about getting at least one more hour of rack time. Kara turned to Laura, seeking reassurance from one of the only people aboard who'd been pregnant.
"It happened when I was pregnant with Liam. Scared the hell out of me too." Laura smiled reassuringly. "Everything turned out fine."
"Was dad as worried as I feel?" Lee asked with a relieved laugh, and Laura's smile dropped. Bill had been deployed, and, neurotic enough about her health as he'd been, she'd chosen not to worry him more. He'd only feel guilty.
"Your father was always worried," she said, giving Kara's hand a squeeze. "No doubt Lee will be a lot like his father, driving you nuts but being the best support you could have. I'll leave you two alone to talk."
Laura stepped out of the little alcove the privacy screens created, leaving two nervous-looking kids in her wake.
"I'm still not sure if I can do this," Kara said quietly as she looked at her stomach. Lee wasn't surprised to hear such a statement from her.
"Do what?" he asked gently, tempering his voice so that his mounting joy over the baby didn't drown Kara.
"Have a kid. Be a wife and mother. I keep trying to see myself holding a baby and thinking of what I can pass on… All I can picture is me with my mother's voice coming out. How frakked is that?"
"Oh, Kara—"
"—and I can't even picture my father anymore."
Something else clicked in Lee's head. "I'm never going to leave you or the baby, Kara. I love you. Your fire. Your spirit. The way you so much care to give! Smart and brave. Our baby is lucky to have you as a mother, and I hope they turn out so much like you that we have a mini-Starbuck running around."
"You're crazy."
"For you."
Kara hauled off and hit him again.
When Laura left the screened area, she found Bill, waiting like a strung bow with a nocked arrow.
"Was about to come in but didn't want to intrude. Kara might not want to see her CO at the moment even though he's also father-in-law," he explained, shifting from foot to foot in an uncharacteristic nervousness. "Cottle mentioned that she and the baby are safe."
"They're safe," Laura said, sighing heavily, almost a yawn, crashing as the adrenaline faded with another crisis passed. So weary that her body felt like lead, she stepped over and leaned against Bill's comforting bulk. He smelled like warmth, sleep, and home. "Waiting was good. Kara's probably not up for visitors even if she'd admit you if you asked."
"Then I won't ask."
Laura smiled at his kindness and restraint, knowing he hated the kind of problem he couldn't help fix. "Actually, she and Lee are talking. Probably best to leave them to it." From where she rested against him, she toyed with a button on his uniform that hadn't made it into the proper hole in his haste to leave at so early an hour. She chuckled, loving her endearing husband quite a bit at the moment.
Bill offered her an arm, letting her continue to lean against him as they walked away. "Do you think Kara's going to be okay?"
Laura glanced over her shoulder at the screen separating Kara and Lee from Life Station. "I do. Physically and emotionally. It's not an easy thing, having a baby, but she and Lee can do it."
"I was eavesdropping," Bill admitted. "Something similar happened with Liam?"
"Liam had his complications, like so many before him. Believe me, I'd have told you if there was something important."
"Ok," Bill said, and Laura felt a stab of guilt over her lack of divulging any of her recent visions. It didn't feel good leaving him out of the loop while she experimented with controlling them. They were a team, but she also wanted to protect her partner.
"Laura?" he asked when she'd been so absorbed in her thoughts she hadn't realized they'd gotten home. Laura could feel his questioning gaze on her as they stepped into their quarters. Even after they'd thanked Maya for coming to watch a still sleeping Evie, Laura still remained in lost in a pensive daze. Bill hadn't seen her like this many times. He asked, "Care to tell me where you are?"
"Our first grandchild, Bill. It feels incredible! It's like a whole new chapter for all of us. When this timeline started, I experienced being a wife and mother for the first time, but you'd already experienced being a husband and father—"
"And I wasn't too good at it the first time," Bill said, trying not to remember a time when he'd failed at keeping his wife or his family happy. In fact, neither of them ever mentioned his first wife; it was something better left in the past. He didn't even remember Laura ever referring to herself as his second wife, or voicing the idea that she'd gotten married while he'd gotten remarried. He reassured her quickly, "it was better the second time."
"I don't mind, Bill," Laura said, smiling at him in that special way she did that made him feel like no other man existed. "Besides, all of us made mistakes. Look at the kids! Kara and Lee were each married before too, and they made some, shall we say, interesting life choices. But they never had kids. But this, well, this is unique to this timeline. It's a first for all of us, and there's something about it that just feels… good. We didn't prevent the attacks, but we've done good. We can make a difference, and we have. "
Bill wondered if he'd ever get over how thoughtful and wonderful his beloved wife could be. He pulled her into his arms, Laura giving a small giggle at surge of affection, and they wrapped their arms around one another.
"You're right, Laura. We did good. Together."
…
Billy was a good boy; he worked hard, cared for his sisters, and made sure paperwork ended up properly filed with all requisite signatures in place. The cabinet President Roslin had assembled respected him, though Billy could do with fewer flirty looks from the Secretary of Health, thank-you-very-much. He had a lovely wife who worked a few decks above them in CIC, and he remained enduringly, endearingly loyal.
In short, Billy Keikeya easily deserved one of the limited gold star stickers left in the universe.
So, when his boss got that look on her face, that look in her eye, Billy Keikeya worried. It caused him to fidget, and his gaze darted from between his work to the Madame "Something-Is-Up" President. It started about half an hour ago when she'd gotten a call from the Rebel Basestar requesting a meeting. More accurately, Caprica Six had demanded a meeting, making it clear that it had better happen before the next jump.
After agreeing to meet, President Roslin had asked him to comm Doc Cottle and ask the good doctor to join the meeting. He knew something was up as he hopped straight to work. He put in the call while she called the Admiral on the other line. She apprised him of Caprica's call and then requested that he join the party.
They'd hung up, and then Billy noticed that look. He hoped it might just be from the fact that the President didn't enjoy being yanked around by ship captains, be they Cylon or Human.
He accepted that this was likely wishful thinking.
"So, do you know what this meeting is about?" Billy asked as the time drew nearer for them to leave. The President looked no less ominous with each tick of the clock.
"I have a feeling," she said. She hadn't looked particularly surprised with Caprica's call. Billy shuffled the papers around on his desk, sorting them into nice, neat piles while swallowing hard as he cast glances at his boss. She'd started pacing.
It was time to press for information, but carefully. "You have that face on."
"What do you mean?" she asked, turning and putting her hands on her hips.
"The 'there's something I should be worried about' face," Billy said. Laura pursed her lips, but a corner threatened to quirk into a smile. Billy could have groaned out loud. There was something, but the president wasn't concerned. That meant, by Billy's logic, that Madame President felt confident about getting whatever she wanted.
Yet Billy did not like the feeling in his stomach.
"Let's go, Billy," Laura said after checking the clock. She pulled on her jacket, the wine-red material forming to her—a polished, sensual, and professional armor.
"Do you need my help, Madame President? Meeting notes, arranging anything…" Tory piped up to ask from the corner of the office where she'd been working. She'd been going out of her way to be helpful and pleasant. Billy didn't particularly like her, but he was happy that she no longer tried to pick up or hold Evelyn.
"Not for this meeting, Tory. Thank you," Laura said politely. "But if you could arrange for a meeting with Delegate Porter from Geminon, that would help. She's been hounding me for a discussion about outlawing Cylon religion, although it sounds like she'd have me outlaw all monotheistic religions entirely."
"But you worship the Lords of Kobol," Tory said with a slight tilt to her head.
"Free will remains important, Tory. What are we without it?"
Tory nodded. "I'll arrange the meeting."
Billy and Laura left the room that housed the colonial government aboard the Battlestar Galactica. After some shuffling, the government had taken over Baltar's lab and kicked the lab to a different ship. Baltar was trusted well enough by those who remembered to be let loose, and he enjoyed getting a space aboard the science frigate more suited to his work. He ended up back on Galactica enough as the Vice President. The storage room next door had been cleared and a door cut so that there was more room, and, for the apocalypse, where there was rarely a good solution to any of their problems, this one worked well enough.
The two of them did not exchange their usual gossip as they walked and climbed up a few decks to get to the Ward Room where the upcoming meeting would take place. It always surprised Billy how much time it took to get around Galactica; it hammered home that he now lived aboard a huge, no, massive warship. After several long, silent minutes, they reached the Ward Room.
Inside, Leoben already waited, and he smiled when they arrived, greeting them with a warmth Billy still couldn't quite match. The Cylon explained that he'd heard about the meeting and thought to lend his support, to which Laura gave a nod of thanks. Then he waxed on about some metaphysical-sounding stuff that Billy didn't quite catch or like.
Thankfully, before Billy needed to endure a metaphysical rabbit hole of discourse with the Cylon, he considered the looniest of the bunch, Bill Adama and Jack Cottle arrived. As if on cue, Billy noted, the couple found each other's eyes and exchanged a warm smile. Laura walked over, and the three of them began whispering in conspiratorial tones. Billy thought it sounded conspiratorial anyways. They were definitely planning, but Leoben insisted on making small talk with Billy, trapping the younger man with him.
Then Caprica entered with the energy of a runaway tornado.
She marched over to the group, with Baltar trailing in her wake wearing an unusually serious expression. She curtly greeted everyone, obviously pressing a lid on the pot of boiling anger in her.
"Let's get down to it," Caprica said flatly as they took their chairs. "Why the hell are we heading toward the Lion's Head Nebula?"
Billy didn't even know what the Lion's Head Nebula was;, surrounded by the others who remembered, he felt at a distinct disadvantage, having not seen this far into the journey. He only had the crackling dark energy of the room to go on; he needed a summarized version of the journey still ahead.
Laura lowered herself gracefully in her chair, folding her hands on the table. She met Caprica's gaze levelly. "You know why we are going there. The beacon left by the thirteenth tribe is there, and we are going to retrieve it."
"For what purpose?" Caprica asked.
"Because the disease on the beacon is deadly to Cylons, and it can be used to destroy our race," Leoben said as he casually leaned back in his chair.
"What about us?" Caprica snapped, but fear glimmered just underneath her rage, the hot, burning anger that sought to protect her people. She aggressively defended her people if she sensed they were in danger. "Are we just going to be sacrificed on the Colonials' altar of revenge alongside Cavil's forces?"
"And that's biological warfare!" Baltar added. "Which is very illegal."
"Not to me," Laura said. "As president, I do have the authority to authorize the use of biological warfare. And we are doing this."
"That beacon provides us a tactical advantage we can't give up," Adama said.
Well, that explains that face, Billy thought as he looked between Laura, Adama, and Caprica. Laura knew she'd get what she wanted, but he was left with a heavy stone sitting in his stomach at the thought of wiping out an entire race.
"I thought we were allies. What happens if we are exposed to the beacon? Or would that be a happy accident?" Caprica asked, looking frantically between Adama and Roslin as if to beg them to see reason.
"Caprica, " Leoben said, his tone placating but firm enough to silence the irate woman. "This was my idea,"
"Your idea?" Caprica asked, her head swiveling toward him.
"His idea?" Cottle asked with a raise of one bushy white eyebrow.
"Are you crazy?" Baltar asked. "We start playing with biological weapons, and we risk hurting our allies. One accidental infection and the disease rips right through them."
Caprica flinched beside him and took a deep breath. Leoben lost some of his casualness and sat up straight.
The Admiral spoke now, his deep voice firm and commanding; it silenced the others who tried to pipe up. "We will be jumping tomorrow at 0900. The coordinates place us far enough away from the Lion's Head Nebula that there is no risk of infection. We will be recovering the beacon under quarantine procedures."
"And what about after you have the beacon? What keeps my people safe then?" Caprica asked.
"Lucky you have a doctor who remembers a thing or two both about medicine and the other timeline. I have some ideas on a vaccination," Cottle said. "We'll inoculate your people against the virus as soon as I develop a treatment plan."
"And how long will that take?"
"Hopefully not too long."
"It still seems wrong," Baltar said. "Weaponizing the beacon's disease gives us the potential to wipe out the entire Cylon race. It's a brutal solution, an act of brutal revenge for the destruction of the Colonies."
And then the meeting descended into chaos. Everyone was talking, voices getting louder to talk over the other.
"I thought you took an oath to do no harm!"
"This is barbaric!"
"—can't ask me to keep sending men and women out to die and pussy foot around a solution—"
"Think of the Colonials!"
Laura lost her patience. She rose to her feet and placed her palms on the table, giving the room a stern look. Her tone chilled the room as she spoke.
"This is not about revenge! We aren't on some misguided quest to get even here. It's not about getting even without caring about who it hurts in the process," Laura said, looking intently at the Cylons and then meeting the gaze of everyone in the room one by one. "Even though you could argue that revenge for us would be justified, our survival comes before that. This has always been about the survival of the human race. This is about preventing the bad guys from coming and hurting anyone else. Cavil and his Cylons have pursued us relentlessly across the Galaxy, twice now that we remember. Enough is enough, and I will take whatever steps I need to in order to protect humanity."
Billy flinched at her pragmatic, icy sharpness she slammed into them. Her tone conveyed no shame or remorse because, to her, there was no room. There was what needed to be done, even if biological warfare was something good people didn't do, in Billy's opinion. Billy focused on the table in front of him and tried to ignore the voice in his head that protested such an inhumane approach. Or did it argue that it was fitting revenge despite Laura's words?
Leoben spoke up next, his tone almost a whisper compared to Laura's. "We know she's right. It's not about revenge. It's about survival. This is a weapon we may use to protect the fleet, and presenting it will get us a seat on the Quorum in exchange. We need some goodwill after the failure at the Battle of the Hub."
"We shouldn't have to keep proving whose side we are on," Caprica said, some of her anger fading to sadness as she looked at her Cylon brother.
"We should be on solid ground and breathing fresh air," Cottle said. He turned to the president and admiral. "You already know I don't like this. I took an oath."
"Noted," Adama said.
"I'll follow my orders. I'm tired of bodies in sickbay. I can grow more strains of the virus and rig something up to infect the air if a Cylon boards a Colonial ship."
"This is not what I signed up for," Baltar muttered, but he sounded like air deflating from a balloon.
"And I signed up to be a teacher," Laura said, her tone somewhere between wistful and icy. She gave those in the group a sad smile before turning to the doctor. "A vaccine for our allies takes priority. Then we can all discuss how to use the beacon against Cavil."
"Yes, Madam President."
Laura turned to their Cylon allies, "I don't want any more sacrifices from my people or your people. This is dangerous. It is, and I know that. But it could protect all of us; your people, my people. Can we really, really pass that up?"
Caprica's shoulders slumped, and Baltar reached over to take one of her hands. She didn't reply, refusing to put her stamp of approval on this, but she didn't protest anymore.
"Then the jump will go ahead as scheduled," Adama ordered.
...
I know, I know. It's been a long time and I'm so heartfelt apologies to readers. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it was a treat for those of you who were looking forward to Kara's reveal.
You know me, I love the comments and hearing what ya'll think. Thank you all for the encouragement and kindness.